Prisoner Of Ink
by Mrkodeo
Summary: An Octarian experiment with no name has finally broken free from his shackles that have held him prisoner for years on end. With no purpose or anywhere to go, he heads to the first noticeable place he sees. A rundown shack on the edge of inkopolis city. After running into a kimono wearing squid, he is given a purpose and a mission; Defeat his former captors and rescue Callie
1. Prologue

_Stomp Stomp Stomp_

Heavy footsteps echoed throughout the facility, the owner of the steps trampling anyone who got in the way.

_Pant Pant Pant_

He heavily panted as he lugged through the halls, his airflow and movements restricted by the many chains and shackles that hugged his body.

_Clank Clank Clank_

"Alert, alert! The experiment has escaped! All personnel are required to detain him." A deep, robotic voice versed.

Alarms blared an ear piercing screams, and red lights coated the halls with a coloured hue. He turned a corner, and ran, only for his steps slowly came to a halt. A dead end.

"Hands up!" A voice boomed.

His hulking figure turned around to come face to face with the barrels of many, many guns. Guns all trained on him. Each being held threateningly by humanoid octopi, their fingers half squeezing the triggers.

"I said hands up!" Slowly and steadily, his hands made their way up into the air. Immediately, a few soldiers ran to detain him. Bad mistake on their part. The experiment lashed out, grabbing to of the soldiers by their necks and tossing them into the crowd. Cracking his knuckles, he walked towards the dazed group.

* * *

The experiment broke through the walls of the facility, brushing off the dust from his suit and wiping the ink from his fists.

"You….won't get….away with this…" He heard a weak voice call out.

The experiment looked back and scoffed. There on the ground, laid one of his now 'former' captors. Ink leaked freely from the wounds he had inflicted upon her and her comrades. He found it pathetic that these were the ones who had kept him locked up for so long. Turning away, he continued outside, the sun rays prickling his skin. It had been years since he had stepped foot outside, the sun felt very foreign to him.

"Did you hear...me?"

The pained groans of his former captors were noiseless to him as he walked away. Without realising it, he was smiling. Smiling underneath the mask and chains that had once kept him trapped, but not anymore. He was free to wander, free to do what he was now a prisoner no longer. He was now no longer an experiment, a weapon, a rat, a guinea pig. But as the thoughts came and entered his mind, his smile faltered. He abruptly stopped. What WAS he supposed to do now? He had no home, no family. He was supposed to be a weapon, war machine designed for destruction, that was his function, but now that he was free he had no purpose. He resumed walking while contemplating his thoughts. For anyone with common sense, they wouldn't have been aimlessly walking towards seemingly nowhere. But for a weapon like him, common sense was not needed, it was irrelevant. Minutes passed, minutes turned to hours and hours to days of endless walking in the canyon. After what had seemed to be an eternity, his eyes caught a shining in the distance. Walking closer, the shine now took shape of a large kettle. Curiosity and the fact of having nothing else to do got the better of him. Converting into a little octopus, he slipped through the grate at the top, traveling through the pipes to an unknown destination. He popped out on the other side. His eyes surveyed the area. Nothing. Just a few floating platforms.

Against his better judgement, he went to explore. Super jumping to the next platform, his eyes landed on the building in front of him. A little run down shack sat snug on the side of the platform, with a rather large snow globe occupying the space next to it. He sighed. Nothing here was worth his time. He turned to go but froze upon turning. In front of him stood a grey tentacled squid, wearing what looked to be a kimono and clutching an umbrella in her small hands. Her form was little compared to his own. The two of them examined each other, when suddenly their eyes made contact. When he saw her eyes, he felt his body relax. He was absolutely taken away by her eyes. Her beautiful star shaped eyes stared back into his. Breaking contact for a minute, he knelt down to get a better look. Now kneeling down on his left leg, he looked up again to greet the end of a gun. Well, so much for the sweet moment.

"Who are you and how did you find this place?"


	2. Chapter 1

It was an average day for the former popstar Marie. Well, besides having the great Zapfish stolen and Callie going missing, it was pretty average. Currently, the former popstar was seated in the cuttlefish cabin, fiddling with a radio, trying to make the piece of tech work.

The little machine glitched and spewed sparks at her. Marie threw the radio to the ground and backed up as the glowing orange particles and electricity continued to spray around.

"Stupid machine." Marie growled as she eyed the malfunctioning tech. Soon, the orange flakes ceased, leaving the radio to smoke as Marie stormed off.

"Ugh! There's no point in trying to fix that old piece of trash. I don't know why gramps wants it repaired." Marie converted to her squid form and jumped into the pipes that led to inkopolis square.

Marie popped out of the other side with an umbrella she had seemingly pulled out from nowhere, earning a few sideways glances from inklings passing by. No one could tell it was her though, not with the new clothes she was wearing and the umbrella that shielded her face.

"I'm never going to work on that hunk of junk again." Marie ranted to herself. "I'll just tell gramps to use a better….one…" Marie's rants turned to quiet whispers.

She had forgotten that her grandfather was no longer here. She missed the old captain. He had disappeared off somewhere random a few months ago with the company of agent 3, the saviour of inkopolis city. She missed 3 too, but it was hard to miss someone when your feeling glad they're gone cause of their stink. But, most of all she missed Callie; her dearest cousin and the other half of the squid sisters.

After the final splatfest Callie had gone missing. Marie had no idea what the cause of her departure was, but she desperately hoped it wasn't because of her. Calie never really cared for trivial things such as popularity, but maybe when Marie won the final splatfest she had taken it to heart that people liked the quiet and snarky squid sister more than the energetic one.

Marie sighed, depressed. She was beginning to feel the effect of loneliness take its toll on her. Ever since Captain, 3 and Callie left, she had no one to talk, interact with or help her with the octarians. She desperately craved some type of company, and watching all the happy inklings talking with their friends and doing turf war wasn't helping with that.

Snapping herself from her thoughts, Marie reminded herself of her goal; She wasn't here to make friends or interact with people, she was here to find help. Help to beat the octarians. She would do it herself if she could, but she wasn't skilled enough to take on the newly rebuilt octarian army by herself. Clearing her mind, she set to work.

Hours passed by as Marie scanned the crowds of inklings that came and went, observing their battles on the jumbo screen in the square and just looking for anyone who looked like they had potential. Unfortunately, none had piqued her interest enough to even consider recruiting them.

Marie shook her head in disappointment and jumped back into the grate that lead to her grandfather's little shack. When popping out, she jumped back in shock. There, looking around as if waking up in a strange place, stood an octoling, but unlike any octoling Marie had ever seen. This Octoling didn't look feminine like the rest. No, instead this octoling looked muscular, burly and towered over her. He was at least twice her size as she only went up to his sides.

His tentacles were a light grey, unlike the other octolings with their red and black tentacles. But, what caught her attention most were the chains that clung to his form and the mask that hid the bottom half of his face, leaving only his eyes and the top of his nose visible while his mouth was hidden away. Marie caught the octoling staring directly into her eyes.

All of a sudden, the octoling began to kneel down, breaking his sight of her for a moment. Taking the chance, Marie quickly pulled off the head of her umbrella to reveal the gun barrel of a bamboozler.

She aimed her weapon at his head as he looked back up, now nearly the same height. He widened his eyes in surprise as she pushed the barrel closer.

"Who are you and how did you find this place?" She questioned the octoling.


	3. Chapter 2

"Friends come and go, none of them will stay with you forever. But there will be one friend who will stick with you through thick and thin, through the toughest times and hardest points in your life, they'll stick with you to the end, either your end or their end."

-Coral

* * *

The octoling ceased movement, the barrel of the gun aimed point-blank at his head, finger inching closer and closer to pulling the trigger. When she received no reply, she squinted her eyes angrily. She was already wasting precious time standing here with the octoling. Precious time she could be using sparingly to find Callie. But instead she was here, gun aimed and loaded at a random octoling. Marie should have fired. She could have fired. She wanted to fire, but thought against it. This octoling could have valuable information about Callie, and if he did then it would be a waste to kill him, at least for now. Marie had received no reply from the octoling the entire time her thoughts had run rampant.

"What?" She said, "Octopus got your tongue?"

The strange octoling never replied back. He never spoke a single word. He didn't speak or show any type of emotion or response to let her know he understood. Instead, he stayed where he was; in his kneeling position, as still as a statue and eyes locked with hers in a never ending gaze. The way he looked at her was...nerve-racking to say the least. His gaze was unlike any she had ever felt before, and that's saying a lot.

Over the years, Marie had been on the receiving end of many types of looks. Anger, jealousy, pride, admiration, lust, and many more. But never had she received a look like the one this octoling was giving her, even the other octolings showed some kind of expression. But this one didn't. His gaze was empty, passionless, inexpressive, unfeeling. His gaze made her skin crawl all over. Marie subconsciously rubbed her arms, as if trying to brush something off. She was never really a sociable person, and she wouldn't deny that she could come off as an emotionless person, and sometimes she felt herself agreeing with that. Looks like she never really knew the meaning of emotionless till now.

It felt like an eternity as the duo waited. Marie waiting for some type of response and the other waiting for an entirely unknown reason. The silence was unbearable for Marie. She felt her palms begin to sweat. Internally, Marie slapped herself. She was an agent for cods sake! She wasn't meant to get nervous over something like this!

Clearing her throat and shaking away the uneasy feeling, Marie spoke in a commanding tone.

"I see you're not gonna comply with my requests. Fine." She motioned for him to follow her as she slowly took a step backwards, the barrel still pressed against his head.

"Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way."

He didn't move. Didn't even budge. He just continued to stare Marie down, as if he was a predator sizing up his prey. Steadily, he stood to his full height. Marie had to look up to meet the octolings eyes. His eyes were empty, that was the key feature Marie had noticed immediately. His eyes lacked the emotion every other living creature had. They were the eyes of a corpse, empty and without light. But what drew her attention the most was the color of his eyes. His eyes were the color of a light Vermilion, a color unlike any Marie had ever encountered.

Even Marie had to admit that his eyes were pretty. She found the color of his eyes alluring, enchanting. In her little trance, Marie had unknowingly stepped forward to come face to face with the masked and chained octoling, just centimeters away from each other. The two were so close that she could feel his slow and steady breaths through his restraint mask. There they stood, staring at each other at a mere foot apart for who knows how long. Because Marie was so caught up at staring in his eyes, she didn't notice his hand slowly moving towards her charger, not until it was too late. Marie was pulled forward as her gun was ripped from her grasp. Marie had no time to recover as her weapon was now being pointed at her.

The inkling woman gulped. The usual emotionless look that the octoling had was now replaced by a menacing demeanor and a menacing glint in his eye. He pressed the barrel up against her throat, and his other hand went and cupped her cheek.

The octoling grabbed onto her chin and positioned her head to look at him. The two stood there looking at each other. The octoling inched closer, staring deeply into Marie's eyes. Marie inched back as far as she could, trying to maintain distance, but failed. The two were now right up in each others faces, one having more control over the other.

Marie growled at him, threw her head back then slammed it into his forehead. The octoling, now stunned, had let go of Marie and stumbled back a few paces and rubbed at his aching head. Marie latched onto the weapon, trying to wrestle it out of his grasp but to no avail. The octoling shot his hand out and grabbed Marie, hauling her off. The inkling hit the ground with a loud thud.

Marie coughed as the ground impacted her back.

'That will definitely bruise ' Marie thought.

The octoling massaged the spot where Marie had headbutted. His eyes narrowed at her, he slowly stalked over to where she laid, groaning in pain.

Marie glanced in his direction, watching his large, heavy figure make its way towards her. She panicked. His heavy stomps resonated in the canyon, the echoes bouncing off the walls. Marie struggled to her feet, but eventually managed to get up. She tried to run, but her foot caught on something and she tripped. Marie peeked over her shoulder. There on the ground sat the radio she had tried to fix earlier. With the octoling stomping towards her and nothing else to use against him, she grabbed and tossed it straight at him. The octoling tilted his head as the little machine flew through the air, sparks shooting out from it. The moment it touched his chest, the machine broke, it's wires and circuits spilling on him. The octolings muscles constricted and a strike of pain shot through his body with blue sparks bouncing off him. The circuits in the radio were apparently still charged with electric currents, currents that were currently shocking him. The burly octoling fell back onto his knees and dropped the charger. Marie rushed at the chance and swiped the gun, pointing it at him. A large pillar of smoke erecting from his being with a soft sizzling sound, as if he were a barbecue.

Marie was resisting every single urge to shoot him, which was not an easy feat. Every single brain cell Marie had told her to just end him, that he'd be too much of a threat to be left alive, but in the furthest reaches of her mind, was a little voice saying otherwise. She could splat him and be done with it, or she could try to pry some info from him. Marie wasn't gonna lie, option two kinda seemed pointless since the octoling hadn't said anything this entire time, so she doubted he'd talk anytime soon, but it was still worth a try.

Marie glared at the octoling. The glare she had perfected from years of practice would have made any normal octarian piss themselves, but that was any 'normal' octarian. This octoling did not seem normal. The little argument in her head finished, her choice now in mind.

She would get rid of this octoling after interrogating him, and fast. He was a threat, and threats had to be taken care of quickly. Not wanting to waste anymore time, Marie signaled for him to follow and approached the shack, with the octoling in tow. The octoling made no movements, he defied her command and knelt down while growling like an angry dog. Marie growled right back, the laser of her charger blinking to life as she took aim at the center of his head. He paused as the inkling in front of him prepared to fire at a moment's notice. The area was deathly silent, the octoling contemplating what to do and Marie waiting for the octopus to give her an excuse to shoot. He hung his head submissively, looking down at the ground. Marie huffed and once again signaled for him to follow. This time he followed. But, even with the weapon in her possession, she felt something off. Turning around to look, she saw nothing but the octoling trailing behind. Marie shrugged off the feeling not aware of the many eyes watching.

Marie led the burly octoling through the shack that had been all but forgotten a moment ago. Marie made her way to a bookcase that sat against the wall, a hand trailing against the many books that sat inside. Her hand stopped on one, she then pulled it down. Loud creaking sounds emitted from the wall as the book case opened up like a mechanical door, revealing the contents of the room inside, which was empty besides the hatch that settled in the middle of the floor. Marie urged him to go in, pointing the gun to emphasize her point. After a bit of hesitation, he reluctantly went in, slowly turning the handle on the hatch and backing up as the old relic opened up. A ladder leading down to another room that was dimly lit . Marie pointed down the hole.

"Get in." She said.

He threw a glare her way and climbed down the ladder with the inkling keeping her gun on him the entire time and closing and locking the hatch. After reaching the bottom, Marie looked around, scanning the room. It was a spacious room, with a few cabinets lined up on one wall, with chairs lined up on the other. This hidden room was created as a bunker from bombings back during the great turf war, but now it was used as an interrogation room. That is if Marie and Callie actually brought anyone in here to interrogate. This room had been sitting dormant for years without use.

After examining the room for all but a few seconds, Marie turned her attention back to the octoling, who was standing patiently and staring right at her. Their eyes made contact. Marie felt a chill run down her non-existent spine. The feeling she got from gazing into his eyes this time was different from what she felt before. She instantly turned away but could still feel his heavy gaze on her. Marie walked to one of the cabinets and began searching through. She pulled a long chain out of the cabinet. She then gestured for him to sit down in a chair, but avoided looking directly at him.

When she heard no implications of movement, she gestured again. Nothing happened. It was deathly quiet. Marie would have honestly thought she was alone if not for the sight of his boot in the corner of her eye. The boot stayed, he didn't move. A tick mark appeared on Marie's head, she was beginning to lose her patience.

"Sit down, now." said Marie.

Still no sign of movement. Marie had enough. She mustered up the courage to fully look at him, but reared back in fear.

The octoling was standing hunched over with his hands clenched tightly together, knuckles turning white. His eyes were narrowed and had a dangerous glint in them, like a wolf finding an injured deer. And that deer was her.

He lashed out, moving faster than she could comprehend, despite his large stature, and Marie soon found herself up against the wall, his hand grasping her throat and his eyes piercing into hers. Marie felt dizzy and light headed as he gripped her airways while scowling at her. Marie tried to break from his but was prevented; for he had grabbed both her hands.

Marie's face turned red from the lack of air, and patches of black began to cloud Marie's vision while she felt her strength leave her.

'Think Marie, think! H-how do I-i get o-out...'

The octoling was not loosening his grip, in fact it seemed he tightened his grip. Through her chokes and gasps, Marie could hear the faint sound of deep growling coming from her attacker. Without thinking, Marie opened her mouth.

"P-please...s-s-stop..."

Wow, the lack of air must really be taking its toll on her if she was trying to beg an octoling to stop. The black blotches on her vision began spreading. A few tears leaked from Marie's eyes and dropped onto his hand. Her struggling came to a halt, they were now just weak slaps on his wrist that he didn't even register.

Was this it?

Was this where Marie was going to die? Were these her final moments? Was she destined to perish at the hands of this mysterious octoling? A few more tears dropped. The octoling was staring into the inkling's watery eyes, the dangerous look he had was now replaced by curiosity.

'And to think I didn't even get to save Callie.'

Marie took one last glance at the masked face of the octoling before her vision was consumed by pitch black.

* * *

Air rushed into the former idols lungs, her sight restoring itself and her heart rate skyrocketing. Marie coughed violently and dropped down to the floor, hand clutching her throat.

Marie could feel the burning gaze of the octoling through the back of her head.

Returning towards him, she spoke.

"Y-you let go..." Marie said.

Marie rubbed at her throat, the lingering feeling of his hands choking her still present. Marie chuckled. She couldn't believe she was still alive, but she was glad because it was better than being dead.

"You...you had a chance to kill me," Marie said. "But you didn't. Why?"

The octoling looked away from the girl as she gaped.

"You and I are enemies, and so are our races, so why?" Marie asked again despite knowing she would receive no answer.

The octolings expression did not change, nor did she receive any words, just him turning to stare right back at her. Marie sighed in exhaustion.

"What was the point of you attacking me if you weren't gonna kill me, huh?" She jabbed a finger at him.

For the first time, the octoling responded to her question. He pointed to her eyes.

"My eyes? What about them?"

His finger trailed down from her eye to her cheek, just where her tears had ended before they fell off her face.

It took Marie a few seconds to try figure out what he was trying to tell her, or if he was trying to tell her something at all.

"My...tears? Are you saying you stopped because I was crying?"

The octoling nodded in response

"Why?" She repeated

The octoling couldn't answer.

Marie began laughing.

She was laughing hysterically, as if told a funny joke. Then, Marie's features twisted into a snarl. She jumped for her charger and aimed at him.

"If you think you not killing me for some half ass reason like that is enough to make me trust you, then you're wrong." She growled.

"I know your type. Trying to lower my walls, gain my trust, make me think you're a friend before I suddenly find myself six feet in the ground after you get what you want. If you think you can trick me, then you are dead wrong."

Marie used her arm to wipe the wetness from her cheeks. Then she grinned.

"Though, even I have to admit that was a good try. You nearly got me. NEARLY. I was right to not lower my guard around you. You octolings are always the same-"

Marie paused.

The octoling raised a brow. Why had the woman suddenly stopped-

Oh.

There was footsteps. Footsteps and crashing furniture above them.

That's why.

Marie's brain kicked into high gear. She ran towards the ladder, quickly escalating it and locking the hatch from the inside.

"Search the shack, he might be here." An unknown voice said.

"Yes ma'am!" Multiple voices replied, higher and more squeaky

From what Marie could hear, the voices were all female and had a slight accent to them.

Almost like a...

Octoling.

Marie swiveled around and shot at the octoling, who in turn jumped to the side to avoid the blast.

One unmistakable feature octolings had was the accent. Since the octolings had their own language, every time they tried to speak inkling tongue it was almost guaranteed they would have an accent. But, that did leave the question of why the octolings were speaking in inkling anyways.

"So, your pals have come searching for you, huh?" Marie said.

The octoling was too slow to avoid another shot from Marie, and was hit in the leg. The Goliath of an octoling fell down.

"I have to say, you're probably the most crafty and sly octoling I've met so far. I really didn't expect this." She praised.

"You planned to distract me and corner me somewhere, while the rest of your troops came flooding in to finish me off. Not a bad tactic at all, octoling." She spat the last word out like venom.

She strode up to him, barrel up against his head. Before she could fire, the octoling raised his hands in the air, swinging them back and forth before settling them in a praying position.

Marie blinked.

Then she laughed.

Mercy.

He wanted mercy.

He wanted Mercy.

She let out a soft chuckle.

"You want mercy? You want mercy? Do you honestly think I'll give that to you?" She said.

The octoling lowered his gaze. He put both hands on his chest where his heart would lay and stared up into Marie's eyes.

Though he didn't speak, Marie knew what he implied.

'Trust me.'

Marie snarled, finger slowly pulling the trigger. The only time she'd ever trust an ocotling is if she absolutely needed to.

It was best to kill him now, she could deal with his allies after.

"Ma'am, I found some kind of room behind this bookcase!" an unknown voice called out from up top.

Marie's eyes widened. She was half tempted to slap herself. Though she had locked the hatch, the inkling had forgotten to close the shelf.

"Shit..." she mumbled.

"What's inside?" A second voice asked. The second voice was slightly deeper and had a more commanding tone, but was still undeniably female.

"A hatch." The first voice responded.

"Is it open?"

The hatch made slight creaking noises as whoever was on the other side tried to force their way in.

"No ma'am, it's locked."

"Do you see any other way in?"

"No ma'am."

"I see..."

"Ma'am, what course of action do we take?"

"Hmmm..."

All was quiet, at least for a few moments as the second voice was thinking.

"Soldier, get the breaching tools and remove this hatch right now, there's a high chance he's in there."

"Yes ma'am!"

The inkling could hear someone stepping closer and closer.

"Experiment Hydra, if you are in here i advise you to come quietly. If you come without any trouble then no harm will come to you, and you will receive no punishment for your earlier breakout, but if you still refuse then we will be forced to bring you in by any means."

This was not making any sense to Marie. What 'experiment' were they talking about? Are they not allies of this octoling?

She casted a glance to him.

His reaction was the exact same as when he attacked her.

His eyes were narrowed, glued to the ceiling and his fists shaking in uncontrollable rage.

* * *

The octolings had found him, and he was in no condition to fight. He would most likely be caught and taken back, locked up and deprived of freedom. Just the thought of being put back in the cell nearly made him lash out.

He took a deep breath, in and out. He needed to stay in control of his emotions, cause if there was one thing he actually appreciated about being locked up, it was the wisdom he had acquired.

Only fools let their emotions get the better of them.

"Ma'am, we have the breaching tools ready." a voice from above stated.

"Good, start setting up."

"But ma'am, what happens if he isn't in there?" The first voice asked.

"Then we move on and continue our search. He's only been gone for a few days, he couldn't have gone far."

After the exchange, all was silent. No one spoke, but the pair could still hear movement above.

Meanwhile, Marie was busy being conflicted with the thoughts in her head.

Were they not here for him?

Were they not his allies?

Judging from the voices words and tone, the voice sounded as if she was talking about a prisoner or some type of escaped convict.

Marie was watching the octoling calm down.

Could this octoling really have been different?

Could she have been wrong?

* * *

"Hey, you."

The experiment paused. Turning, he came face to face with the inkling woman. Her gun was to her side with her hand on her hip.

"Can...can I really trust you?" she whispered.

His shaking and heavy breaths ceased. He steadily looked up to meet her gaze. He nodded.

Marie creased her brows and closed her eyes, deep in thought.

She exhaled sharply.

"Ok, maybe we got off on the wrong foot, but right now we need to work together." She said.

The mute octoling was slightly taken back. This was the last thing he expected.

The two sat there waiting.

He stared at her. Not replying. Marie had completely forgotten he didn't speak.

Marie face palmed.

Somehow, she had to find a way to communicate with him.

She was tapped on her shoulder. Looking back, the octoling was making a writing gesture.

Marie face palmed again.

Why hadn't she thought of that?

Running up to one of the cabinets in the room, Marie rummaged through, tossing any items that got in her way. Finally, she pulled out what she was looking for.

A notepad and a pen.

She handed them over.

"Now that you have something to write on, I want you to answer my questions."

The octoling stared.

"Who are these people?"

He flinched, something Marie took notice of.

"Answer the question. Don't forget who still has a gun." She said. "I may trust you slightly but I still can blast you if need be."

The octoling threw a glare her way, to which she responded by backing up slightly.

Even though she was the one with the weapon, he was still the most dangerous thing in the room. There was no guarantee that she would be able to splat him, even with the charger.

The octoling made a sound, it seemed to be a scoff, and he began writing.

"Bad people." His note read.

Marie frowned at his vague answer.

"I want a proper answer." She demanded.

The hesitation was clear as day on the octoling, nevertheless he still wrote something down.

"Enemies."

Enemies, huh? Marie could work with that, as long as he hated the octarians as much as she did it was fine.

Marie nodded in approval at his answer. It was good enough, for now she'd stick with it until she had time for questioning him some more.

"Even though I attacked you, you seem pretty chill about this." Said Marie "Your being surprisingly cooperative. Why is that?"

It took a few moments, but he relied.

"Though you and I have gotten off to a rough start, we both share a common enemy; Octavio. And wouldn't it be better for me to work with you than against you? What would I even gain from trying to work against you? If you and I work together, we could bring down Octavio and dismantle his army. You protect inkopolis city , and I can get what I want."

Marie raised her eyebrow.

"And what exactly do you want?" Marie asked

He wrote his next words in big, bold letters.

"REVENGE."

Marie shivered. Was it her or did it suddenly get colder here? That's pretty weird considering it's nearing the end of March.

"You know, there is a saying. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and right now you and I could be considered the bestest of friends."

Marie scoffed.

"The day I become friends with an octoling is the day I can fully trust you, which will probably be never."

"You never know what the future might hold."

"Well, the future can go screw itself."

The octoling raised his eyebrow.

Was it really appropriate for a woman to talk like this?

"Ok, no more shit talk, there's bigger stuff we need to deal with."

The octoling nodded in agreement, his face donning a more serious look, though with his mask it was hard to tell.

"Ah, Also, before I forget, what's your name? Cause before we do anything, I need something to call you."

Surprisingly, the octoling took a moment to think, which isn't something you should do when telling someone your name.

"Before, you probably heard the octarians above us speaking of a breakout. I was a prisoner of the octarian forces and a subject for experimentation, and because of that I cannot remember my name or anything from my past life." His notepad read.

Now that was a bit too much to take in.

Enslaving and imprisoning inklings? Marie could see Octavio doing exactly that. But, imprisoning his own kind? Looks like Octavio was more messed up than Marie had originally thought.

On the bright side, his reply did answer a few of her questions, but only to have a lot more take their place.

"So, if you can't remember your name, do you at least have a nickname or something?" Said Marie.

"My captors dubbed me 'Project Hydra' while I was still in my containment."

"Project? Why would they-"

A finger pressed against Marie's lips, shushing her.

" I can answer your other questions later, for now we must focus."

Marie slapped his hand away.

"I know that, I was just curious."

Marie cleared her throat.

"Well, that will have to do. From now on your name will be Hydra, at least until you find out your real name."

"Now that you have something to call me, can I know your name?"

"Sorry buddy, but I'm still not sure if I can trust you with that information just yet. For now I want you to refer to me as Agent 2."

"Agent 2?"

Hydra added the extra question marks for emphasis.

"I'll explain it to you later." She replied.

All of a sudden, a large flame punctured the hatch and began to move on a circle.

"Looks like we got company."

The inkling woman scratched her chin, her eyelids half closed and her other hand grabbing her waist. Then she snapped her fingers.

"Alright, I just thought of something. I need you to distract them while I get something ready. Think you can do that?"

Hydra nodded in confirmation before walking up to the hatch. There was nearly a perfect circle cut into it, and by the sound of the many footsteps on the other side, they were ready to rush in.

Clenching his fist, hydra threw a punch.

It was times like this where he was glad he had his power.

The hatch busted off its hinges, and went flying into the group of octolings that laid above it. The platoon cried out as the metal door below suddenly shot out, tossing them to the floor.

Hydra scanned the room. Eleven normal octolings and two elites surrounded him, though there could be more on their way. One octoling, however, stood out from the rest of the platoon. She wore a military style black cargo jacket with the sleeves rolled up and with the normal octoling breastplate. Her tentacles were an amethyst purple color with three strands of seaweed protruding from her tentacles. She stood at the back of the group with a modified splat charger hanging loosely from her hands, a small frown adorning her face.

One of the soldiers rushed him in a frenzy while screaming a war cry. Hydra sidestepped and avoided a blow to the nether regions while Hydra himself swung a punch. His fist collided with her stomach sending the octoling literally soaring away and into one of her comrades

Hydra ducked, narrowly avoiding a strike from an octo brush. He turned around and shot his arm out, gripping onto the octolings shoulder and elbowed her in the stomach with the other. Said octoling doubled over, the blow had caught her off guard and she cursed herself. Hydra however was relentless, his hand went for her throat and closed tightly when he felt the flesh of her neck on his palm. His hand clenched harder as the octoling kicked and flailed within his bone crushing grip. She clawed at his hand, violently coughing as she struggled to regain her breath. Her feeble attempt at escape became slower and slower as her vision blurred in and out, soon enough she was out cold and had completely stopped moving. Hydra tossed the octolings limp body on the floor.

One of the elites began firing at him. Hydra ran, grabbing the octo brush and swiping at her legs. The elite jumped and kicked him square in the chest, sending him tumbling backwards and falling flat on his back. As he tried to regain his footing, a few of the octolings threw some kind of net made of wire around his figure. Hydra tilted his head in confusion as the wire lit up, suddenly a jolt of pain spread like wildfire throughout his body. Hydra's muscles spasmed and he lost his balance, falling down again. He groaned in agony frustration and tried to remove the wire. His hand slowly moved to grasp it.

"He's still up and kicking. Turn up the voltage!" The octoling with the charger commanded.

One of the elites obeyed and pulled out a device. Her finger turned a knob on the device, thus raising the voltage in the electrical wire. The torment Hydra felt intensified, if he could speak then surely he would be screaming his lungs out by now. The electrifying pain was almost more than he could bare, but he still didn't stop. He clenched on the electrical net, and with great strength difficulty heaved it off himself, relieving him of the pain. The group slowly backed away as Hydra stood up, growling like a feral animal. The octolings passed a few worried glances between themselves, some looked to their squad leader for instructions. The octoling with the charger had a scowl on her features and looked upon Hydra with a heavy glare. If looks could kill, then Hydra would have been nothing but dust by now.

Hydra glared right back at her, snarling. He cocked his head back and released a roar and charged at the group. Any octoling with common sense jumped out of the way, some were not as fortunate. The octoling with the charger rolled to the side and took aim.

Hydra fell back down as his back erupted in pain. Beads of sweat formed on his head as he struggled to get up. The octoling placed a boot on his back and kicked him down. She grinned smugly as she spoke to her subordinates.

"Target is down. Pack him up and let's go."

The octolings grabbed the net once more and made their way to Hydra. The sound of a gun firing rang out, and everyone froze. One octoling burst into ink, the form of their ghost floating away. A laser lined up with another octolings head and splatted her.

"Charger!" An elite yelled. The group immediately ran for cover, two or three getting splatted in the process. Hydra tossed the net away, slightly growling at it, and looked to where the shots had come from. Thanks to his extended line of vision, courtesy of the experiments, Hydra was able to see the hidden charger taking crack shots at the octoling squad. Marie knelt down on one of the higher up floating islands, using the walls as cover and peeking occasionally to take shots.

Once Marie had caught sight of Hydra, she signaled to come closer and kicked something down near the shack. Hydra sprinted forwards in a burst of unnatural speed, ducking and maneuvering past the globs of ink being shot at him. Hydra grabbed the object Marie had kicked down. It was an inkzooka.

"Now that you're armed, Hydra, show'em hell!" Marie shouted down below.

The experiment nodded, and turned to face the octolings. He ran forward, swaying side to side to avoid being hit by their fire. Hydra pulled the trigger on the inkzooka, launching a tornado of ink at the octolings. Most of the squad was depleted, the only remaining members being the elites and the leader. Just as Hydra began to pull the trigger to launch another attack, a loud rumble threw him off balance. He and Marie looked up just in time to see the incoming balls of ink headed towards them. They looked a lot like super jumps, probably because they were. The reinforcements had arrived.

Hydra fired at the incoming waves of octarian forces, sending typhoons of ink to splat them. But, when one wave had ended, another started. It was an endless onslaught of octopus.

* * *

The Octoling charger, the leader of the group, sat behind a wall on one of the floating islands, observing Hydra with her two elite subordinates close behind. The three had fled to cover when the waves had started.

"Commander Coral," One spoke up. "I don't mean any disrespect, but what are we doing? Why aren't we down there trying to capture the target?"

Coral sat crossed legged, hand on her cheek and charger on her lap. She turned to face the elite.

"Simple. Observations."

"Observations?"

"Yes. Exactly what I said; observations."

The elite octoling scratched the back of her jet black tentacles.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I don't understand. Can you please elaborate?"

"Soldier, let me tell you an important piece of advice."

"I'm all ears."

"A friend of mine once said that if you need not fight, then don't, just simply observe for when you do need to fight. Observe your opponent to find their limits, for everyone has limitations. Know someone's limits and you can beat them, know your own limits and you can be unbeatable, for you know when to retreat."

"Interesting advice, Commander, I'll make sure to remember it. But how does that apply to this situation?"

"Like I said, soldier, know your limits and you can be unbeatable. I know my limits. If I go down there now and try to fight, I will be beaten, if I just observe for information for when it is my time to fight, I haven't been beaten yet."

The Octoling hummed in thought. "When you put it like that, it makes a lot of sense. But, that still leaves the fact that we outnumber them, and didn't you manage to down Experiment Hydra before? "

"We may outnumber them, but that doesn't mean we outmatch them. That inkling charger is more skilled than I am, and the area she's hidden in is too secluded for anyone to land a shot, and the fact that project hydra is running around thrashing our troops while wielding an inkzooka doesn't help. And the fact I shot Experiment Hydra down so easily is because he is still recovering from his time in confinement, so his strength is not fully replenished. We can use this information to our advantage and attack him when he is alone, but right now he is getting support from that charger, which complicates things, not to mention this is inkling turf, so that inkling charger has a territorial advantage of knowing the layout of the area."

The trooper looked at her commander, both shocked and impressed.

"And if you're wondering why we are even attacking if we are clearly going to lose, it's just to grasp an idea of their skills. What areas they're weak and strong at. For example; Experiment Hydra has a flaw in his design, he is extremely deadly in close quarters combat, but in long range fights there isn't much he can do, and that charger consumes her ink too fast, leaving her open for any attack when reloading if one of us were to go over there."

The elites simply stood there, Jaws open.

"I'm impressed, commander. Never would I have ever thought of that. Octavio was right to appoint you leader of this attack." One finally spoke.

Coral nodded, turning back to watch the ongoing battle.

"That friend of yours that gave you this advice, they sound very wise." The second soldier decided to chime in the conversation.

The elite soldiers watched as her commanders' faces scrunched up in disgust.

"Maybe he was, once upon a time."

The elite dipped her head to the side, stricken by curiosity.

"Did something happen to him?"

The corners of Coral's lips dropped into a frown.

The world seemed to be silent as Coral exchanged no words.

Moments passed, and nothing was said.

The atmosphere grew tense, immediately making the octolings nervous.

"Commander, are you ok-"

"Friends come and go, none of them will stay with you forever. But there will be one friend who will stick with you through thick and thin, through the toughest times and hardest points in your life, they'll stick with you to the end, either your end or their end." Coral cut her off.

She looked up into the light blue sky, eyes staring straight up and hands reaching for the clouds.

"I had a friend like that once, and he stuck with me till his end. He was a kind person, always thinking of other people's happiness before his. Long story short, he's not around anymore, he's gone forever."

Her hand fell back down and her head lowered. Her subordinates were giving her sympathetic looks. They too know what it's like to lose friends. Many comrades were lost trying to stop the old Agent 3 from taking back the zap fish that they had stolen.

"His kindness and wisdom was his downfall. He was so blinded by it, that he couldn't see the consequences of doing so."

In the corner of her eye, a stray tear cascaded down her cheek. Coral dragged her thumb across, wiping it away.

The two elites casted glances at each other, then at their commander.

Coral stood up, throwing her charger over her shoulder and rubbing her eye.

"Anyways, I think it's time we left." She said.

The other two nodded, and together the three of them super jumped. As coral became airborne, she glanced one last time at Hydra.

She glared, and then she was out of sight.

* * *

"Well what do you know, we actually survived that." Marie said through rushed breaths.

Marie and Hydra sat side by side against a wall. The only injuries Hydra had were a few minor scratches, and Marie was just out of breath.

The onslaught had just ended moments ago, with the octarians retreating after suffering heavy casualties.

"I have to admit, I had a lot of doubts about teaming with you, but now they've been slimmed down."

Hydra tilted his head to the side, as if asking a question.

"Hey, just because you fought some octarians with me doesn't mean I completely trust you, at least not yet. It's going to take a lot more than that to earn my full trust, but for now I think we're on good terms."

Hydra nodded, satisfied with the answer. A few minutes passed as the two laid there, resting. Hydra stood up, then suddenly he began looking around. He moved inside the shack, and fiddled around before coming back out with his trusty notepad and pen.

"Since the attack is over, I think we have some time to answer your questions."


End file.
